Let's talk about one of the most loved interior design trends. It is called urban jungle and, as the name suggests, nature plays a fundamental role, although “translated” into an urban lifestyle.

It is about furnishing the house using plants and flowers (but not only) in abundance. The idea is that of daily contact with nature even in a context in which green would otherwise not exist. In practice, transforming one or more rooms of your home into ideal greenhouses, but with a hint of a wild soul, like in a real jungle. 

A gallery of urban jungle inspirations

An urban jungle living room, with lots of greenery, makes the environment welcoming. There is no need to change furniture, but to integrate and embellish it with plants of different types.

Dedicating a corner of your home to urban jungle plants creates a place to relax and be able to spend time alone, with family or with your best friends.

An open bookcase can become the ideal support for plants. We recommend creating compositions with different species, of various sizes, with different vases.

A console at the entrance can become a perfect urban jungle "island".

In the kitchen you can use normal terracotta and ceramic pots but you can also recall the atmosphere of the house by reusing some typical kitchen containers such as jars and glass jars.

The bathroom is the ideal room to create an urban “greenhouse”. The humidity helps to take care of the vegetation without too much effort. The plants grow luxuriant and healthy, giving color and dynamism to the environment.

Plants in the bedroom? Popular wisdom says they should definitely be avoided, but this is a myth that needs to be dispelled. It is true that they consume oxygen at night, but much less than people and animals.

The origins of the urban jungle style

Also called just jungle, it began to spread in the United States in 2017, when Pantone identified the so-called Greenery as the color of the year. But urban jungle didn't come out of nowhere. At its roots there is the hippie culture of the last century, and there are ecological instances revitalized, in this 21st century, by the fight against climate change.

In an increasingly urbanized West, with cities where green spaces are never enough, this furnishing trend expresses the desire for nature and clean air. The green areas inside the houses also become islands of relaxation, serenity and regeneration to lighten increasingly stressful lifestyles.

What are the characteristics of urban jungle furniture?

As it is easy to imagine, it is a furnishing style that presupposes the desire and the time to devote oneself to plants. A little green thumb is essential. Usually there is no tendency to furnish the entire home according to the dictates of the urban jungle, instead reserving it for specific rooms or corners of the home. There is no more recommended room than another. You can choose the bathroom or the study, the kitchen or the living room. The important thing is that it is that place where it becomes more natural to stop and recharge the batteries.

Also that lighting plays a fundamental role: it is better to opt for environments in which a lot of natural light enters.

Plants are the absolute protagonists, and overshadow the elements of the furniture, which do not have to be precious or expensive pieces of design.

Fundamental is the space for vases, jars and terrariums, to be arranged on different levels. Therefore, every piece of furniture and accessory must be thought of with a view to the composition of the greenery: shelves, stools, consoles, coffee tables, bedside tables, window sills ...

What plants to choose?

The possibilities are many, potentially endless. And obviously they depend on a thousand factors: season, geographic location, available solar exposure. However, it is good to focus on different types of plants, so as to create a certain dynamism of shapes, sizes and colors.

• Large-leaved plants: exotic (but not limited to), showy and impressive. As an example we find the Ficus Lyrata, the Strelitzia, the Monstera Deliciosa (superstar of Instagram), the Zamioculcas, the Sansevieria, the ferns, the kentie or the palms.

• Succulents: there are all shapes and sizes. You can indulge yourself as you wish.

• Flowering plants: orchids, lavender, jasmine, hibiscus, anthurium. Their color will stand out in half to green, giving splendid chromatic accents to the whole.

• Climbing plants: such as ivy, which can also be grown at home using hanging pots.

What are the colors and materials of the urban jungle style?

It is almost obvious to say that green is a very important, central color for the urban jungle. But you have to know how to combine it carefully, playing on the nuances. You can insert natural shades such as brown (from lighter and reddish ones to those tending to black), beige (neutral color that fits perfectly without being trivial), white (able to stand out among the vegetation) and blue ( the shades of water and sky). If you want to create more contrast, insert colors such as yellow, orange and coral.

As for the materials, even in this case the choice is easy to understand. In the furnishings and accessories, those of natural origin will be preferred: stone, wood, bamboo, wicker, rattan, rush, cotton, rope, linen ... So wooden floors, if possible. And then fabrics in vegetable fiber, even raw.

What furniture for the urban jungle style?

Since it is a question of giving the house the atmosphere of a domestic jungle, there are no too rigid rules. Urban jungle lends itself to contamination and, for example, can be combined well with boho chic interiors, in Scandinavian style, in Japanese style, but also in more exquisitely industrial rooms

It's fine to mix old and new, travel memories and souvenirs from faraway places, nature and simplicity. Since the attention is focused on plants and the vegetable "mood", vintage and second-hand furniture will be perfect. Pieces recovered and rearranged using water-based paints from Rio Verde's Vintage Prestige line. They are products with a material effect that can be used even without sanding, and applied not only to wood but also to metal, glass, walls, plastic and fabric.

The pastel shades available - Black Cherry, Milkshake, Hazelnut, Vanilla, Coconut, Anise, Juniper, Truffle, Marzipan and above all Lattementa - fit perfectly.

As for the furnishings, large four-poster beds with mosquito nets (jungle style, in fact) for the bedroom. In the living room suspended seats but also more minimal armchairs or, again, the old grandmother's sofa, perhaps surrounded by tables full of vases with succulent and large-leaved plants.

To give more movement to the rooms we recommend playing on different levels with low furniture, old stairs, benches, bookcases, shelves and baskets.

To increase the wild effect even more, you can use fabrics, prints and wallpapers with a plant theme or with exotic animals such as tigers, monkeys, birds or butterflies.